Which Japanese People Do You Follow?

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

The thread is pretty much what the title says. When you're scanning the list of new shows or looking for an older thing to watch, who do you look for in the staff?

As the thread starter, I suppose I should kick it off.

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, AKA the most talented man at Gainax, is a definite one. He is primarily a character designer, but I think he probably does the best job of character designs in anime, with his credits including pretty much every good Gainax show except for Gunbuster and Gurren Lagann for character designs, Mamoru Hosoda's films ever since he started working at Madhouse, and a lot (if not all) .hack stuff. In addition to character design, he also does a lot of animation work, typically on the episodes that end up being the very best of the show, and he's also been doing the Evangelion manga since before the anime started, and it is apparently much better than the show itself. Eva was also apparently partially his brainchild along with Anno. So yeah, he's a pretty awesome guy. I eagerly await him doing the character designs for the next Hosoda film.

Omori Takahiro is interesting in that he's a director that has only done adaptations, which would normally be something of a turn-off to me, but he really manages to bring something to all of the shows he directs. I admittedly have not read Natsume Yuujincho yet, but all of his shows that I've seen all have a special quality he seems to bring to them. Durarara!!x2 where?

Shinichiro Watanabe is a pretty awesome guy. Makes shows with interesting relationships between characters that have an appeal to a Western audience without trying to specifically make a show for a Western audience. Macross Plus is on Youtube/Hulu, which I'd recommend if you can tolerate dubs. I need to see Michiko to Hatchin for sure.

I haven't seen all of his movies yet, but I really like Makoto Shinkai. I eagerly await seeing his new movie, especially upon hearing that he can make a movie that is not CLOUDS and cell phones and distance.

Akiyuki Shinbo is a pretty divisive guy, but I'd say I'm a fan of him as long as he's adapting something that has a good writer behind it. He typically makes his shows very fun to watch with his crazy style, and I still look fondly back on my time watching Bakemonogatari for the first time, and Madoka showed he could really do something with the way he directs. I'm not rushing out to watch his back catalog, but if he's doing a new comedy or whatever, sign me up.

I really like the stuff I've seen from Masahiro Ando. While I haven't seen Canaan yet, HanaIro is pretty good and Sword of the Stranger is absolutely fantastic. I'd love to see him do another action movie, and if nothing else, the action in Canaan should be awesome. I like that he's been doing original things.

Masaaki Yuasa usually makes really interesting shows, even beyond the bizarre visual style he always employs. He might not be the man for everyone here because there's a fair amount of sexual content in all of his stuff, but I really like watching the stuff he makes and I hope he gets another chance at making a show next year.

And, after saving the best for last, I think Mamoru Hosoda is probably my very favorite director ever. The way the people in his films are animated you can really figure out their personality just from that. His films have a quality that I can't think of any other things replicating, and that's that they're incredibly human. While all of his stuff has these fantastical adventures or whatever, they're really about the characters and bringing a beauty to the mundane. The only reason I haven't seen the sixth One Piece movie yet is that I am trying to locate the necessary materials to get through all of Alabasta so I can watch his time at Ghibli as seen through Luffy. He is a fantastic and awesome guy and I cannot wait to see whatever new movies he will do next.

[Juliannesan]

Yeah, I tried to watch Canaan. Wasn't really impressed. Actually made my stomach turn a little bit...

That being said, I don't really follow any particular person. Though I do have some favorite Japanese seiyuus.

[Atria35]

Canaan is an okay anime. I really wasn't that thrilled with it. Maybe rated it a 6, I think.

But... I don't really follow anyone. I suppose I should.... but I just go by what looks good, since I know everyone can turn out okay or bad stuff once in a while.

[rocklobster]

I try to follow anything made by Studio Ghibli and Bones. They always manage to impress me. I also enjoy Yoko Kanno's eclectic taste in music. Sadly, I am unable to truly differentiate Japanese voices, so I can't really say which seiyuus I follow or like.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Quite a few.

I think more anime fans should try finding directors, writers, animators and/or character designers that appeal to them and watch other stuff they have done or are going to do. In my experience it is a much more reliable method of finding quality shows than "Oh, that looks cool," or "Man, that premise sounds neat."

Now, I'll actually name a few people I follow/followed:

Osamu Tezuka
Notable Anime: Astro Boy (writer/director), Black Jack (original creator), Phoenix (original creator)
Manga no kamisama is also known as the father of anime, since he created the first modern television anime in Astro Boy. By extension, he also founded the first anime studio and pioneered most of the production methods of the medium, many of which are still in use today (kind of a bad thing for the industry as much as it is a compliment to Tezuka, actually). Tezuka is a brilliant man, and it is a joy to read and watch his work. Even though his early work suffers a bit from his discovering how to use the medium to tell a story, Tezuka's works are enduring classics to this day.

Noboru Ishiguro
Notable Anime: Legend of the Galactic Heroes (director), SDF Macross (director), Astro Boy (director), Megazone 23 (director), Space Battleship Yamato TV (director)
My personal favorite anime director is Mr. Ishiguro. The man can tell a science fiction story like no other. Ishiguro got his chops working with people like Leji Matsumoto (Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999) and "The Nish" on Yamato and never looked back. Additionally, he has also directed some random children's movies, which I haven't seen yet. If you're looking for the cream of the sci-fi anime crop, then this is your guy.

Mamoru Oshii
Notable Anime: Ghost in the Shell (director), Patlabor (director), Angel's Egg (director), Sky Crawlers (director)
In many ways, Oshii casts himself as a foil to Hayao Miyazaki, though his films share more thematic elements with the Ghibli co-founder than he might let on. Oshii's work is often set in a dystopian future in which humanity faces many problems because of rapidly advancing technology. Unlike Miyazaki, Oshii's characters will overcome these hurdles not by returning to nature or natural ways, but by embracing the new era we find ourselves in and moving forward. Human beings must use technology in order to transcend its problems/limitations. Oh, and Oshii is a fantastic director. His films are sometimes accused of being overly-philosophical or too ponderous, but, when you're watching an Oshii movie, you can be sure that you're watching a film that has meaning behind it.

Ryosuke Takahashi
Notable Anime: VOTOMS (original creator, director), Armor Hunter Mellowlink (director), Gaogaigar (writer), Astro Boy (writer), Layzner (director), Dougram (director)
If there's a good robot show from the 80s, chances are Ryosuke Takahashi was involved. He often gets labeled as a director of dark works (VOTOMs, Dougram), but he also wrote for Gaogaigar and directed Panzer World Galiant, both more lighthearted fare. Takahashi has worked extensively with Osamu Tezuka on projects such as Astro Boy and Phoenix (the former he wrote, the latter he directed). Though he does many things well, Takahashi does excel with directing gritty, real robot series such as the acclaimed VOTOMs and Fang of the Sun Dougram. These series took the departure from super robots that Gundam had initiated to the next step. War is a grim affair, and it is about soldiers. Mecha are nothing more than machines to accomplish the purposes of generals. Perhaps this is how he gained his reputation?

[Agloval]

Imagawa, Tomino, Shotaro Ishinomori, Ryosuke Takahashi, Yoshihiko Umakoshi, Ichiro Itano and Goro Taniguchi.

I should really remember the names of more people who are specifically animators rather than directors (most of that list are directors). But I'm not very good at picking out individual bits of animation or recognising a particular person's style.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

You had better be listing Itano as an animator because the only reason Itano-the-director deserves to be followed by anyone is so that they can get into firing range with their clown pistol.

[Neane]

The only people I am following are:

Mamoru Oshii
Chiaki J. Konaka
Yoshitoshi ABe
Ryūtarō Nakamura

And that's because their work is breathtaking.

[Agloval]

You had better be listing Itano as an animator because the only reason Itano-the-director deserves to be followed by anyone is so that they can get into firing range with their clown pistol.

I don't know what you're talking about. Angel Cop is an unappreciated masterpiece, only enhanced by its superb English dub, while Blassreiter showed us that the future of Japanese animation lies with CG motorcycles.

But yes, I mean Itano the animator, strapper of rockets to motorcycles and aspiring pilot.

[Maokun]

After getting over my CLAMP fanboyism, the only creator I follow religiously is Shinichiro Watanabe. I would also very much like to see the name of Hideaki Anno in more anime.

Other than that, I follow studios. Gainax, BONES, Gonzo always will make me stop and consider whatever thing they just made.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

I find that this strategy works only to a point, as studios have several staff teams and many different people that could be head writers or head animators, not to mention the director they bring in. Basically, I think this method is still a crap shoot, albeit less of one than the eye-test.

*EDIT How frustrating must it be for people to only follow the GAINAX name? The swings in quality are quite drastic.

[blkmage]

It certainly doesn't work well for any studio large enough to do more than maybe one or two projects at a time. Obviously, at that point, there's enough variability in the staff that it makes it more difficult for the studio to have a cohesive style.

Shaft is a pretty good example of a studio where you can tell what the show is going to look like and that's because of the director. Even when Shinbo doesn't direct something, like for ef, he's still left his imprint on whoever did direct it (the guy who directed ef went on to do BakaTest with Silver Link and you can definitely see the Shinbo influences in that show).

Bones is an example of a studio where, up until a few years ago, you used to be able to judge their output but has grown so much that you have to dig deeper to get some more meaningful heuristics.

[MasterDias]

Well, for the larger studios, it helps if you can figure out which internal studio/team is doing the project. Bones has four different studios, for example.

[Cadence]

I'm always keeping an eye/ear out for news about new projects from Miyazaki, Takahata, Hosada, and Shinkai. Another filmmaker I watch is Yoshiura Yasuhiro (Pale Cocoon, Eve no Jikan).

I stalk Takayama Shinobu like a [S]creeper[/S] boss. There are several other manga-ka I keep my eye on as well, but...not to the same extent (Sakisaka Io, Midorikawa Yuki, Aoki Ume, Mori Kaoru, Komi Naoshi...).

And I keep my eye on various seiyuu - some to greater extent than others (Aoi Yuuki, Miyuki Sawashiro, and OnoD have been getting most of my attention recently...I used to follow Hana Kanazawa quite religiously as well until she was suddenly in everything...and always sounds exactly the same).